What's On in Santa Cruz

(((folkYEAH!))) presents an evening with Chuck Prophet and His Cumbia Shoes!Sunday, December 28, 2025Doors: 7pm / Show: 8pm$25 in advance / $30 day of the show21+Tickets on sale Wednesday, August 27th at 12 noon*All sales are final*Avoid scammers! Only purchase tickets from moesalley.com or ticketweb.com====CHUCK PROPHET AND HIS CUMBIA SHOESWake The Dead, Chuck Prophets extraordinary new album recorded with Qiensave?, dives headfirst into the world of Cumbia music. The songs are intoxicatingly rhythmic, all but demanding you move your body while you listen. There are flashes of rock and roll, punk, surf, and soul, wrapped up in the rich legacy of a genre that traces its roots back hundreds of years and thousands of miles.Prophets streak of more than a dozen critically acclaimed solo records stretches all the way back to 1990, when the California native first shifted focus from his tenure with pioneering neo-psych band Green on Red to working under his own name. Since then, Prophets songs have appeared in a slew of films and television shows, and his work has been covered by Bruce Springsteen, Solomon Burke, Heart, and a host of others. Rolling Stone dubbed him a streetwise city kid with an eye for the country, while Uncut proclaimed him a renaissance-rocker, and NPR declared that no one can turn tales from the outer limits into catchy songs quite like Prophet does.

Moes Alley presents a pre-New Years Eve party with the return of Monophonics with special gueste Mae Powell and DJ Archive 65 on the 1s and 2s!Tuesday, December 30, 2025door: 7pm / Show: 8pm$30 in advance / $35 day of the show21+*Tickets on sale Friday, Oct. 3rd at 10am PT**All sales are final*Avoid scammers! Only purchase tickets from moesalley.com or ticketweb.com====MONOPHONICSSince 2012, Monophonics has steadily built a reputation as a consistent band with a unique sound. Well crafted songs and records are matched by an energetic live performance. A heavenly signature style: Pure timeless heavy soul and warm textures of psychedelic rock. This is a band that revels in the past, taking you back to the stylings of the late 60s and early 70s, while always keeping its feet positioned in the present, looking ahead to the future.Front man, vocalist a on guitar. A dynamic horn section led by Ryan Scott on Trumpet with Jason Cressey playing Trombone always elevates the show & sound. This core group drips in cosmic fashion.As a touring band, Monophonics has taken their act to dozens of countries, selling out venues all over the states, UK & Europe including London, NYC, Athens, LA, Istanbul, San Francisco, Amsterdam & Paris. Known for putting on an infectious performance which places their intimate songwriting and soulful musicianship on full display. Its the kind of concert that delivers gifts to the mind, body and soul of every crowd in each city they travel to. Monophonics brings a musical experience that is unforgettable, which has earned the group a global fanbase and loyal following.Sage Motel, Monophonics fifth studio album released in 2022 on Colemine Records, once again captures the bands timeless psychedelic soul sound that they are known to produce. Met with an outstanding reception including nods from NPR Music, KCRW, BBC and Shindig, the record has thrived in multiple scenes. Since its release, Sage Motel has found its way to millions of listeners online and seen thousands of records distributed and sold in record shops around the world.MAE POWELLMae Powell is a San Francisco based singer songwriter with a rainbow tinged timeless sound. She released her sophomore album Making Room For the Light on this year on Colemine Records. Its an indie folk record that grapples with love, friendship, and loss, with deeply personal yet universal lyrics. You can find Mae singing jazz, spinning vinyl, or playing her original music with her band made up of her very best friends.

Ring in the new year with us! Its the Moes Alley New Years Eve Local Band Get Down with Jive Machine, Floratura and Coffee Zombie Collective! Throw on your best party duds and dance 2025 away! Well have a photo booth, a midnight champagne toast, drink specials and more! Wednesday, December 31, 2025Doors: 7:30 pm / Show: 8:30 pm$30 in advance / $35 day of the show21+*All sales are final*Avoid scammers! Only purchase tickets from moesalley.com or ticketweb.com=====JIVE MACHINEJive Machine habitually bends the rules, blurs the lines, and stretches musical boundaries. Their music takes listeners on a sonic rollercoaster that fuses elements of old-school funk, progressive rock, blues, and soul. Throughout their set, you can hear diverse influences such as Tower Of Power, Jimi Hendrix and Trombone Shorty. Jive Machine is uniquely able to incorporate new ideas while paying homage to the great artists who came before them. The band is defined by a strong rhythmic foundation, infectious melodies, tasteful lead guitar virtuosity, and crisp horn lines. Recently, Jive Machine has become notorious for their pop-up performances in downtown Santa Cruz. These events always erupt into a massive dance party, and within moments, youll see Its impossible not to be captivated by the talent and contagious energy of their live shows! FLORATURAFloratura invites listeners to float down stream and melt into an oasis of wonder and discovery. Seamlessly blending soaring jam-band vibes and bouncy neo-soul. Floraturas electrifying live shows combine uplifting narratives with intricate layers of grooves and textures. Drawing from a variety of influences, the California-bred band explores genres ranging from jazz-rock and funk to electronica, utilizing colorful harmonies, spicy, catchy melodies, and extensive improvisation. The psychedelic atmosphere creates an oasis for listening, dancing and feeling welcome.COFFEE ZOMBIE COLLECTIVECoffee Zombie Collective formed in 2010 as a loose group of sleep-deprived musicians playing their favorite lesser-heard songs alongside karaoke barn burner hits. The band has continued to evolve, mixing in their own originals alongside twisted acoustic reimaginings of contemporary pop hits such as Lourdes Royals and cult classics such as Motrheads Ace of Spades. Coffee Zombie Collective takes the songs you love, or love to hate, and weaves them into medlies, or upside-down interpretations that always leaves audiences smiling. The bands high-energy stage performances whip audiences into a sing-along dance frenzy. The repeated on-stage mantra is If you know the words, sing along. If you dont know the words, sing louder! If youre at the show, youre part of the collective, and highly encouraged to contribute in the frisky, sweaty, ad-libbed sound explosion that is Coffee Zombie Collective. Its never the same show twice.

Ready to rock out? Moes Alley presents Noise Pollution - The AC/DC Experience! Friday, January 2, 2026Doors: 8pm / Show: 9pm$25 in advance / $30 day of the show21+*All sales are final*Avoid scammers! Only purchase tickets from moesalley.com or ticketweb.com====NOISE POLLUTIONSome things in life just keep giving year after year. In the rock n roll world, it is the music of AC/DC. From the early days with Bon Scott to the modern era with Brian Johnson, AC/DC delivers the goods. Pure and simple. AC/DC fans can celebrate because Noise Pollution pays tribute to the Aussie heavy weights of rock n roll. Based in San Diego, Noise Pollution delivers an amazing replication of the AC/DC concert experience from both the Bon Scott and Brian Johnson periods. Fronted by Syd (Brian) Ross on vocals and Nick (Angus) Torri on lead guitar, Noise Pollution presents a chronological look into the music of AC/DC. Because of the monumental nature of AC/DC vocals and guitar work, this is a rare and impressive accomplishment. Noise Pollution has performed for hundreds of thousands of AC/DC fans over the past 10 years. Noise Pollution performs the hits from both the Bon Scott and Brian Johnson eras while guiding audiences through an unforgettable AC/DC experience. The band is professional in their respect for the music and their performance. CBS Los Angeles has declared Noise Pollution one of the best youll find. Noise Pollution nails the sound and the energy of an AC/DC performance. KCAL 96.7 FM called Noise Pollution, The band that totally, completely kicks ass. KMMT 106.5 FM, Noise Pollution is one of the greatest AC/DC tribute bands to ever walk the face of the planet. From coast to coast in the USA and from Canada to Latin America internationally, Noise Pollution has been performing audience friendly shows to sold out crowds at premier venues throughout the Western Hemisphere.

Moes Alley presents Rainbow Girls with special guest Bart Budwig!Saturday, January 10, 2026Doors: 8pm / Show: 9pm$25 in advance / $30 day of the show21+*All sales are final*Avoid scammers! Only purchase tickets from moesalley.com or ticketweb.com====RAINBOW GIRLSCalifornia indie band, Rainbow Girls, is known for their haunting harmonies, powerful songwriting, and unfiltered yet poised stage presence. Their live show is an unforgettable, one-of-a-kind experience that will make you both laugh and cry.The band met in Southern California and formed at a weekly open mic night they hosted in their college house known as Rainbow House. They spent their first few summers as a band, busking & couch-surfing across Europe on one-way plane tickets.In 2016, Erin Chapin, Caitlin Gowdey, & Vanessa May pivoted toward a raw, stripped-down acoustic sound, performing around a single condenser mic. This spotlighted their intricate harmonies and cemented their place in the roots music scene. Since then, their blend of provocative charm and musical precision has earned them a cult following across the US and Europe, thanks in part to a viral rise on social media.Their latest album, HAUNTING (2024), is both a sonic evolution and a bold reclamation. As Chapin puts it:
The concept for this album came about from the word haunting itself, which is the most common adjective people use when describing female harmonies. But what is it about female harmonies that make people want to describe them as haunting? Its because theyre powerful. And if a woman is powerful, then she must be a witch. She must be otherworldly or special because a regular woman couldnt possibly be powerful on her own. We are reclaiming the word haunting to describe our power the power we find in reckoning with our trauma, grief, loss, and fear.The album dives deep into that reckoning - layered with grief and resilience, its an intimate yet expansive collection of songs that shine a light on the transformative nature of pain and the strength that grows from it. Its Rainbow Girls at their most raw, most refined, and most powerful. BART BUDWIGBart Budwig is a prolific songwriter and renown audio producer/engineer from Enterprise, OR. He sounds like John Prine, plays like Hoyt Axton, and looks like, well..Bart Budwig. Hes a cosmic country lawn gnome. Hes cherubic, cheery, and an old soul. Songs spring from the dreams of his noonday naps, and punch the keys of his typewriter above the OK Theater in Enterprise, Oregon. - Sean Jewell, American Standard Time (2018) Mr. Budwig has performed alongside or in support of artists such as Mason Jennings, Justin Townes Earle, John Craigie, California Honeydrops, Damien Jurado, The Infamous Stringdusters, and Fruition among others, and has produced or engineered records for Gregory Alan Isakov, Joseph, Horse Feathers, Blind Pilot, and the Shook Twins.

Moes Alley and Ay Que Linda present Scientist + Papa Michigan with special guests Blakkamoore & The Brick Yard Band plus DJ Robert Rankin and DJ Ay Que Linda!Thursday, January 15, 2026Doors: 7pm / Show: 8pm$30 in advance / $35 day of the show21+*All sales are final*Avoid scammers! Only purchase tickets from moesalley.com or ticketweb.com====The Scientist Dub Master Known worldwide as The Scientist Dub Master - Hopeton Brown is celebrated as one of the most innovative and influential pioneers in reggae and dub music and the art of studio engineering. Rising from Kingston, Jamaicas iconic King Tubbys Studio in the late 1970s, The Scientist transformed the art of mixingturning the console into a living instrument capable of reshaping / recomposing and reimagining sound itself.Today,The Scientist Dub Master continues to bridge the analog roots of Dub with the evolving world of digital sound, preserving the spirit of roots culture while pushing sonic boundaries ever forward.Papa MichiganPapa Michigan, a pioneering force in the Reggae scene, burst onto the music stage as part of the dynamic duo Michigan It takes an experienced soldier to lead an army. With so many fans thirsty for good music and traditional dancehall fun, who is better equipped than Papa Michigan to take command?Blakkamoore Born in Georgetown, Guyana and raised in Brooklyn, NY, (Jahdan) Blakkamoore has long made a name for himself as a gifted and inspiring Reggae/Dancehall/Hip Hop/Dubstep artist both nationally and internationally.His music has been described as Urban World Music with a message. Blakkamoores sense of melody, superb song writing skills and ability to effortlessly cross over genres has solidified his status as a relevant artist in the music industry. Hip hop heads might know him from his feature with Smif-N-Wessun on the classic Sound Boy Burial or his collaborations with DJ Premier, AfuRa and Dead Prez. Reggae and Roots fans might know him as a member of the group Noble Society or for his standout song Cash Flow on the Major Lazer project from Diplo and Switch.The Brick Yard Band The Brick Yard Band is made up of Bay Area All- Star Musicians collaborating out of the Brick Yard Music Studio in Oakland, CA.